


in the crowd of the mad (we are the only smiling faces)

by TheGeekProblem



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Rewrite, Comfort, F/F, F/M, Immortal Rose Tyler, POV Outsider, Romance, Rose Tyler Stays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:41:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28332525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGeekProblem/pseuds/TheGeekProblem
Summary: Rose was part of the Doctor. The Sun to the Doctor’s planetary system. They were a unit, completely in sync with each other. Always together, always in each other’s orbit, something that only came with years of being together. There was harmony to their movements, to their conversations, to their rhythm.In the laws of the universe, the Doctor and Rose must stay together no matter what.What if Rose had stayed? What would the Doctor's companions think of her throughout the years?
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, The Doctor (Doctor Who)/Rose Tyler, Thirteenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Twelfth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 48
Kudos: 302





	in the crowd of the mad (we are the only smiling faces)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everybody!
> 
> Wow, this was really long, I didn't expect it to be that long. This story is basically, Rose gives tea to every companion.
> 
> The title comes from the song [Marigold](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nazU5RQ0JF8) by Mother Falcon
> 
> I think this is the closest I'll ever get to do a rewrite of the whole series, but you can go and check out my full rewrite of season 7 that I'm working at the moment: [To Sleep; Perchance to Dream](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27197987/chapters/66433907)  
> 

**Martha Jones**

Martha Jones didn’t know what to think of Rose Tyler at the beginning. She looked young, not that much younger than her, really, but younger, her clothing style and make up said that she was from the lower parts of London (the Estates, as she later found out), she looked nothing special and didn’t seem particularly smart. But there was something about her, she seemed older somehow, more mature than her age would suggest, something in her eyes that only showed when they were in dire situations.

During the incident with the Judoon on the moon where they met, Rose had been nice to her and empathetic to her colleague. She handled herself well during the whole ordeal, something that only came with experience. But once Martha was invited and they met Shakespeare, Rose became snippy and snarky at her, so she answered with the same energy. They were at odds during the whole thing, and when the Doctor decided that she deserved another trip with them, this time to the future, she became even more rude. 

The Doctor seemed uncomfortable with the whole situation, but was doing nothing to make it better. He seemed to have an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ policy with human social cues, strictly ignoring everything that didn’t involve him directly.

Rose apologized after New New York.

The three returned to the TARDIS tired. Martha excused herself to the room she had been shown when she arrived and took a long shower. She put on the same clothes she was wearing before (which were washed and folded on her bed, surprisingly) and was preparing to return to the console room when she heard a knock on the door. She was surprised to see Rose standing there, fidgeting nervously with two cups of tea looking like she wanted to be anywhere but there.

“Hi!” Rose said, while forcing a smile on her face.

Martha wasn’t amused. She crossed her arms in her chest and looked at the other girl.

“Look, can we talk? Maybe inside?” Rose nodded to the inside of the room and tried to smile again.

Martha sighed and rolled her eyes, but stepped aside to let the other girl in. Rose looked relieved and this time she gave her a small but sincere smile. She entered and Martha closed the door.

“Here, tea. Mom always said that a good cuppa could solve anythin’.” Rose started as she handed her a cup, “It did, once. During Christmas. Also, I didn’t know how you drink it so I kinda just made it like I do.” 

She was really nervous, Martha could see that, so she gave the cup a sip and nodded, milk and sugar. It was actually pretty good, but not really how she drank her tea. Rose seemed to relax a little at that, but she still seemed tense.

“How are you?” Rose asked.

“Fine.” Martha answered stiffly, not wanting to go into what had happened that day.

“Really?” And this time she sounded sincere, no curtness in her voice, only true concern. Martha felt a little bit of the tension disappear and she sighed.

“Yeah.” She answered quietly.

Rose nodded and stared at the cup in her hands. She fidgeted a little bit, she left her cup on the nightstand and started to look everywhere but at Martha. She touched the lamp, the table, wrung her hands together, moved her weight from one foot to another, until finally she stopped moving.

“I’m sorry!” she finally blurted out, closing her eyes but turning to her. “I’ve been awful to you and I’m sorry!”

Rose opened her eyes and looked at Martha. Just when Martha was about to say something, the dam opened.

“Thing is, the same thing happened with Sarah Jane! I didn’t know I wasn’t the first person to travel with the Doctor and I reacted pretty bad, and I was mean to her because suddenly I didn’t know the Doctor as well as I had thought. And then France happened, and maybe we weren’t– but we were! We are! But ‘m still really insecure about us. Because, honestly, you’re gorgeous –”

“Gorgeous?” Martha blinked, a little taken aback, but Rose wasn’t really listening.

“– and smart, and clever, and you’re goin’ to be a doctor and ‘m so afraid he’s going to replace me because one day he’ll realize that I’m just some chav from the Estates! And I was petty, and I acted so bitchy” Rose was starting to pace from side to side of the bedroom, so Martha sat down and waited. “And the thing with Sarah Jane, at the end she was really nice to me, and it was only my hang ups that made us act that way, so I came here because I wanted to apologize, and maybe ask to be friends? Because I don’t really have friends here that know the kind of life I have and, and, and oh my God, I’m rambling, aren’t I?” Rose stopped and looked at her.

“A little bit, yeah.” Martha smiled. 

“I’m so sorry, really. I was a bitch.” Rose said, calmer than before.

“Yeah, but now I know why.” Martha took another sip of the tea and stood up. “Let’s try it again. I’m Martha Jones, and I drink my tea clear.” 

“I’m Rose Tyler” Rose smiled, they shook hands and smiled.

It was trial and error for them after that. They realized they were only separated by a couple of years in age in reality, and that they liked some of the same bands and shows. Rose wasn’t the type of person Martha had expected, she was really just a normal girl, she hadn’t finished school and came from a really low part of south London raised by a single mother. They had completely different backgrounds, and in normal circumstances they probably would have never met. The only thing they had in common was the Doctor. The Doctor, who orbited around Rose like she was the sun and he needed her warmth to live. 

As time passed and they spent more and more time together, they learnt to get along and finally became friends. 

Rose was really insecure about her relationship with the Doctor, the thing between them was relatively new, and she had lashed out on Martha because she was afraid. Afraid of what? That she might steal the Doctor from her? How could she even think that? The Doctor always looked at her like she was the most important person in the whole world. He became a whole different person when she was around.

She was jealous of her, she could admit to that. Initially it was because of her crush on the Doctor, later on though it became about their relationship. She wanted something like that, someone that would stand beside her through the good and the bad supporting her when she needed it. The Doctor and Rose seemed to be made for each other, she could match the manic energy of the Doctor, she could read him so easily, and they would get lost so easily in each other, laughing and grinning like idiots.

Martha wanted that, and she knew she wouldn’t get it as long as she was travelling with them. She still had a life waiting for her in the real world, medical school, exams, her family. She had lived two years in the span of four days. What would happen if she continued to travel with them? She would reach a point in which she would be so much older than the rest of her peers, she would become someone that they wouldn’t be able to recognize. So Martha left, in her own time, after seeing the wonders this universe had to offer, and the horrors that were lurking in the dark. After a year of walking and fighting, carrying a message to humanity, a year of worrying about her family, she decided to stay and find her own path in the world. 

  
  
  
  


**Donna Noble**

Donna Noble met them twice. The first was a blur of running and explosions and heartbreak, so she didn’t know what to think of them. He was an alien, she was human, and they travelled together. That’s as far as she could make after the whole incident. But they did show her something she never thought possible, and they encouraged her to do something different with her life than what was expected of her.

The second time she met them, she was ready to see the universe. Her life was boring and unimportant on earth, and she wanted more, she wanted to change. She searched for them and when she finally found them, she practically invited herself to travel with them (not that they complained, they were happy to have her along). She was excited and nothing could be bad.

Pompeii showed her that not everything was going to be good, but she could learn to handle that. And then the Oods happened, and she saw the horrors that humanity was capable of. She had wanted to go home.

She decided to stay, because even with all that happened, this life seemed important compared to her past life. 

They were now floating through space, the Doctor was somewhere inside the _infinite_ spaceship (and wow, had that been a shock, really? infinite spaceship? What are you gonna tell me next, spaceman? that the halls move around or something? He had only rubbed his neck nervously and muttered something that sounded vaguely like ‘something like that’), and Rose was somewhere in the galley. Donna had taken a long bath and changed into an old and well loved comfy tracksuit and now she stood in front of the opened doors, looking at the magnificent view of stars and galaxies.

“Hey” A voice said behind her.

Donna turned around to find Rose, in lounge wear, holding two cups of tea. How English. She held out one cup and Donna took it gratefully. She took a careful sip, it was good.

“Thank you” She gave the girl a small smile which was returned immediately.

“How are you?” Rose asked.

“Tired, but I don’t think I can sleep after _that._ ” She answered honestly.

“I know what you mean” Rose motioned to the floor and sat at the edge of the ship, her legs dangling, and left enough space for Donna to sit down beside her. She did and they both stared outside.

“How long have you been travelling with him?” Donna asked.

“Counting the year that never was? ‘Bout five years, I think?” She made a face and continued. “He knows, he keeps track for me.”

Donna nodded.

“Do you ever get used to it? Seeing all those horrible things”

“Never. But… there’s also so many amazing things out there. A whole universe waitin’ to be explored. There are bad days, and there are good days. You just gotta focus on the good things.”

Talking like this, the girl beside her seemed older than she looked, mature and wise. Not in the same way as the Doctor, but in a lighter, kinder way. Like she had seen horrors but they weren’t enough to change her.

Donna frowned.

“How old are you?” She asked.

“‘round 24, I was born in 1986, met the Doctor when I was 19, and ever since we’ve been travelling” Nineteen. This young woman had seen similar things to what they had seen today at 19, and still she decided that travelling with the Doctor, risking her life, was a better way of life. “You were really brave today.” Rose continued.

“Not really.” Donna scoffed.

“Yes, you were, you were brilliant.”

“I’m just a temp.” She argued.

“And I’m just a school dropout.” Rose said seriously to her, “That’s not what defines us.”

And somehow, that had been the most comforting thing she had heard in so long. She felt suddenly a little bit lighter, and maybe a little bit tired and ready to sleep. Donna guessed this was why the Doctor loved Rose so much, she seemed to know what to say in just the right moment. She shook her head smiling, looked down to her cup and she bumped her shoulder lightly against Rose.

“Thanks, spacegirl.”

Rose only smiled.

They kept on travelling, getting into trouble, and running– too much running if you asked her. Jenny joined them at some point (‘She’s the Doctor’s daughter?’ Rose had asked, ‘And yours’ the Doctor answered awkwardly, ‘How can she be mine?’ ‘They got your DNA first you know, and she’s blonde, and she has your gymnastics skills, as you can see’ ‘Oh my God, I have a daughter.’), and they had grand adventures, getting into trouble more often than not.

Jenny truly was the perfect combination of the space couple and Donna got along famously with her, she was ridiculously oblivious and Donna loved that. When the Earth was threatened and Reality was at stake, the both of them had been the only thing standing between the Daleks and the rest of the Universe. Donna Noble, the most important woman in the whole of creation, Rose had said after the whole ordeal. 

And finally, Donna believed her. They hugged.

After a couple of months of more travelling beside the family, Donna decided she wanted to make a difference in her own part of the world. She was smart, _brilliant_ , as the space couple told her all the time, so she wanted to do something good on Earth, leave her mark. She left the TARDIS feeling like a new woman, with the world open before her. With new dreams, and plans to make them come true. She started to do social work to get the experience to open an orphanage. She met Shaun Temple, and after making him beg for it, they got married. 

On her wedding date, the Doctor and Rose came to congratulate her (Jenny had been one of her maids of honor), leaving her with an amazing present. A winning lottery ticket.

  
  
  
  


**Jenny**

Jenny was a ball of sunshine and endless energy, always ready for action and trouble, always running, always laughing. She had a gob that could match her dad’s and the kindness of her mum, or at least that was what Donna loved to tell her. She loved her parents, and she loved what they did. Travelling across the stars, saving planets and civilizations.

But, once in a while, there were hard days. Days where she fought with her dad about what was right and wrong, about her way of doing things. She couldn’t help that she was different, that she had been created in a machine and had downloaded inside her head everything she needed to know for war. Her dad knew that, but they still fought over their decisions. 

That’s where her mum came in.

They had had a nasty fight earlier, Donna and Rose trying their best to put out the fire. Jenny had run to her room not waiting for it to end, just screaming at her Dad how much he still didn’t understand her.

Jenny was now laying face down on her bed. The room was a disaster, with clothing sprawled all over the floor (‘don’t worry, I’ll clean it soon’ she always said), and half of her duvet stained with a purple blotch of dubious origin. It was her own bedroom, one that she had taken time to decorate, where her clothes, the ones she had chosen, where, and her trinkets of distant planets lay. It was her place, one of her own making.

She heard a knock on the door, but she didn’t answer, she just grabbed a nearby pillow and covered her head. The person outside entered and closed the door behind them, bringing with them the smell of fresh brewed tea and biscuits. It was her mum. Still, Jenny didn’t move. The sound of a cuppa being placed on her bedside table didn’t disturb her, nor the feeling of the bed moving like someone was sitting down.

“Hey.” Her mum said softly.

Jenny didn’t answer.

Jenny heard her mum sigh, but stayed quiet. She was probably thinking how to tell her that Jenny should go and apologize first. Well, she wasn’t going to.

“When I was young I used to fight with my mum a lot.” Her mum said, not that it peaked her interest or anything. “We couldn’ see eye to eye, always screaming at each other. We didn’t apologize most of the time but, but, we made each other a good cuppa and we knew that the other wasn’ mad anymore.”

This time Jenny did move, taking the pillow off her head and turning to look at her.

“How did you stop fighting?” Jenny asked.

A sad look crossed her mum’s face and Jenny knew she had said something wrong.

“I lost her.” She said. “But I bet if she were still here we would be fighting over the smallest thing.” She finished with a laugh.

Jenny sat up and grabbed the cuppa her mum had brought. She blew a little on it and then took a sip.

“Mum,” Jenny started saying.

Rose still reacted to the title all flustered, ‘I just don’t feel old enough for that’ her mum had explained to her, but Jenny wasn’t about to change the way she called her just because she wasn’t used to it. She would get used to it sooner or later, and Jenny suspected Rose rather liked the title even if she didn’t say it out loud.

“Do you ever fight with Dad?” Jenny asked.

“Yes. Lots.” She nodded with a smile.

Jenny frowned at her.

“It’s okay to fight as long as you set it right.” Her mum turned to look at her and gave her one of those smiles that always had her dad turn into an idiot. “We make mistakes, we’re human after all.”

At that, Jenny gave her a dubious frown.

“Are we?”

“Well, half-human.” Her mum winked.

They stayed there talking for a while, and Jenny calmed down enough to forget about the fight and enjoy the warm cuppa in her hands. Since they were similar ages (biologically, not temporally), they always got along and always had something to talk about, so they spent the rest of the day in Jenny’s room laughing, Donna bringing them some snacks and more tea after a while but leaving with the excuse that she was knackered. 

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Come in.” Jenny called out.

The Doctor opened the door slightly and peered through the tiny opening awkwardly. Her mum beside her smiled at him and he relaxed visibly, he entered the room and rubbed his neck avoiding looking at them. Her mum stood up and went to his side, kissing him quickly in the cheek and left the room. He looked at her leaving and then at the floor, putting his hands in his pockets and scuffing the floor with his sneakers.

Jenny sighed but smiled slightly; he was making an effort and she appreciated that.

“Come on! Sit down, Donna brought us more tea.”

Her dad was a little surprised but went to sit down beside her. 

Jenny smiled at him and he smiled back.

They were fine.

Jenny adopted the last name Tyler and Rose had outright cried in front of her while the Doctor held her with a huge smile on his face. They travelled together for a few years, and during one of their usual Saturday nights of saving the world, Jenny met someone. She decided to stay with them, their name was Ivory and they were brilliant. Her dad gave her a piece of the TARDIS and told her exactly what to do to make it grow quicker, Jenny had cried while hugging him and she wasn’t ashamed to admit it. Jenny and Ivory travelled the galaxies together, Jenny knew that one day she would outlive them, she was half time lord after all, it was bound to happen (but not soon thanks to advances in life expansion of the 50th century). 

She visited her parents and Donna from time to time, they were still her family even if she was making one of her own. Life was just one big adventure after another.

“What are we going to do?” Ivory had once asked with a smile.

“Oh, We’ve got the whole universe. Planets to save, civilisations to rescue, creatures to defeat,” She looked at them with a smile in her face and her whole future in front of them, “and an awful lot of running to do.”

  
  
  
  


**Amy Pond**

Amy Pond thought they were angels or some supernatural creatures at the beginning. She met them when she was 8 years old, scared and praying to Santa to save her. They came crashing out of the sky into her backyard in a blue box and then they disappeared just as fast.

After 12 years and lots of therapy, Amy had finally convinced herself she had imagined the whole thing, there was no way people fell out of the sky in blue boxes. 

And then they appeared again, crashing back into her life again. She discovered that what had been years and years for her, for them were only five minutes. They disappeared right after they saved the world, and when they came back they invited her to see the universe. She went with no hesitation, not thinking about all that she was leaving behind.

Both of them were so alien for her, so different, a break from the monotony of her dull life in Leadworth. The Doctor was so different, from his fashion sense to the way he talked, his manic energy a force to be reckoned with. On the other side, Rose Tyler was something else, something peculiar. She was human, as they both pointed out multiple times to her (human- _ish_ ), but she acted just as alien as the Doctor sometimes. Amy was puzzled, was this what happened to you when you travelled with the Doctor for as long as she had? You suddenly stopped feeling normal to other people? And maybe she was using this as an excuse as to why she wasn’t that close to Rose, she liked her and all, but she was strange. She probably didn’t notice how strange everything about her was. Young, but not really. Powerful, but not really. Telepathic, but not really. Alien, but human. 

“She’s the heart of the TARDIS, to put it simple.” The Doctor had said as a way to explain it to her, but she didn’t really understand and he didn’t explain it any further.

After the whole business with the Angels, Amy felt off. She had thought everything was going to be amazing out there, but she had almost died that day on an alien planet, in the future, and far away from everything she knew. She sat on the stairs thinking, trying to wrap her head around all the things that had happened in the day, looking out to the console room and the Doctor tinkering.

Over the days (weeks?) Amy had been on board the TARDIS, she had seen Rose bring tea to whoever was having a rough time in the ship multiple times before, whether they were strangers or the Doctor, like she could sense when someone was troubled, a supernatural sixth sense. 

And now Rose stood in front of her with tea.

“Is this your thing, then?” She asked, Rose made a face, she clearly didn’t understand what Amy was referring to. “Tea.” She clarified “Like, the Doctor tinkers and Rose makes tea?” 

“Oh, I guess.” she shrugged and extended a cup to Amy. She grabbed the cup and held it close to her, relishing in the warmth but didn’t drink. 

Rose stood there for a moment, waiting for Amy to do something more.

“I don’t like tea.” Amy said as an explanation, but didn’t hand back the cup, instead she held it even closer.

“I’ll consider it for next time” Rose smiled kindly and left her to her thoughts.

Rose approached the Doctor and said something to him, not loud enough for Amy to hear but she saw the Doctor turn from the monitor to look at her, the smile he gave her was of such love and devotion she had to turn and look away, as to not to intrude the private moment between them. Rose left through the other set of stairs, leaving the Doctor and Amy by themselves. She stayed on top of the stairs, hugging the cup close to her, chasing the remains of the warmth. In that moment she missed Rory more than anything in the world, and the normalcy and familiarity he represented. 

She was startled out of her thoughts by the Doctor sitting beside her.

“Amelia Pond.” He said her name as a greeting.

“Raggedy man.” Amy answered.

He stayed silent for a moment, twisting his hands and looking at the rotor in the middle of the room.

“How are you?” He turned around to look at her. She twisted the cup in her hands and left her beside her as she turned around to face him.

“I almost died today.” She said in a matter-of-fact tone. “I could’ve died today, and no one back home would’ve known.”

“I wasn’t going to let you die, Amy.” He said in a comforting voice and bumped his shoulder against her. She believed him. “I’ll always save you.”

The small reassurance was enough for her. She didn’t need to go around sharing her feelings, she didn’t need to be asked if she was okay all the time, or being suffocated with hugs. She liked this quiet support the Doctor gave her, the shoulder to lean on and his silent comfort.

“Thanks.” She said simply.

They stayed on the stairs, feeling the hum of the spaceship around them, each of them lost in their own thoughts.

  
  
  
  


**Rory Williams**

Rory Williams liked Rose better. 

The Doctor always thought he was smarter than everyone else (which he probably was, but he really didn’t need to be so smug about it), better than everyone else, but he was clueless when it came to human interaction. 

That’s where Rose came in. The reason in a sea of madness. She was always nice, she took her time to explain everything to him, about the Doctor, about her, about the TARDIS. She was patient while the Doctor did everything in his power to not clarify anything about them. Always sympathetic, borderline empathetic to the people they met no matter what.

After the Doctor, Rose and Amy had crashed his bachelor party they took him inside the spaceship to travel with them. He hadn’t minded that much since Amy had immediately greeted him with a hug and saying how much she had missed him. That was great, although it made him wonder how long she had been gone with the couple.

The whole ordeal with the fish vampires in Venice had been terrifying, but Amy liked the adventure and she seemed really, _really_ happy, so he tried to deal with it.

Still, here he was, walking the hallways of the _infinite_ ship, trying to look for something to do while Amy slept like a baby in their room. He had always had fits of insomnia ever since he was a teenager, so of course on his first night on board he would have one. He guessed it was because of all the adrenaline still coursing through his veins, and not because of the fact that Amy didn’t seem to be in a hurry to return to their normal lives. This was a time machine, it could be the night before their wedding for, well, forever. It definitely wasn’t because of that. 

He sighed and rubbed his face with both of his hands. He had always been really insecure about his relationship with Amy. In his darkest moments he thought she was only with him to pass the time.

He kept walking, once again looking for a distraction. He was surprised when he found an open door with light coming out from it. It was the galley, and near the stove was Rose with the kettle on. Should he say something? But before he thought of anything Rose turned around as if she had sensed him.

“Can’t sleep?” She asked with a smile.

Rory nodded and then added, “Um, yeah. Still not used to the whole time and space machine.”

Rose laughed and nodded.

“I know what you mean, it was weird for me too at the beginning.” She motioned to the kettle. “Tea?”

“Is it alien?” He had to ask.

“Nope. Original British Tea.”

He sighed. “Then yes.”

Rory went to sit at the table while Rose prepared the tea. She brought two mugs and handed one to him. He took it gratefully and gave it a sip.

He groaned.

“This is amazing.”

“Good to know.”

“Where do you get it?” It could still come from some weird place.

“London.” She said chirply. “Although we sometimes go to the past when it was better quality and way cheaper.”

They drank in silence for a while, and Rory wondered about Rose. She had been traveling with the Doctor for years as Amy explained. She didn’t look old enough for that but Amy also had said that something had happened to her and it had made her different. She sometimes acted just as weird as the Doctor, but there was always an underlying compassion and humanity to her. Would that happen to them if they kept travelling with the Doctor? He wasn’t really sure if he wanted to travel through space at all, if he was being honest.

“You don’t have to be here if you don’t want to.” Rose said seriously.

Is like he was broadcasting his thoughts. He sighed again.

“Maybe. But Amy wants to, so I’m going to.”

Rose smiled kindly at him.

“Then don’t worry about it. You’ll be great.” She said.

  
  
  
  


**Melody Williams**

For little Melody, the Doctor and Rose were her fairy godparents. 

Just like the cartoon.

Her mother would tell her stories of her adventures when she was young and she saved planets and travelled the galaxies. She would tell her the story of her birth, when the Doctor and Rose rescued her when she was just a little baby and a bad woman had tried to steal her away. Even when she was little, Melody knew that her godparents were her superheroes, Superman and Wonder Woman.

She loved those stories and she loved the visits her godparents made. Every birthday, they would come and take her to see the stars, and on Christmas they would come with tons of presents and books from all over the universe. They always told her how much the TARDIS liked her, and that _that_ was really Big.

She wanted to travel with them when she grew older. 

It was her thirteenth birthday and she thought she had waited long enough. She told her mum and dad but they both freaked out and got mad, she had never seen her dad so mad before in her life.

She was now in the garden. Her dad and grandad had built her a tree house, the Doctor had come and modernized the whole interior with self powered lights and lamps that would paint the galaxy in its walls. It was her favourite place to be, she had pillows and blankets and she loved to come here just to read.

And now she was hiding in her tree house, scrubbing her face furiously to stop crying. She was almost an adult, she shouldn’t be crying just because she fought with her parents.

She heard the stairs creak and then a blonde head appeared in the entrance of the house.

“Knock, knock.” Rose said.

She didn’t enter, she just waited for her. She liked that about Rose, she never pushed.

“Come in.” Melody sniffed.

“Thanks.” She smiled and entered.

She was carrying two cups of tea. Her mum always made fun of Rose when she did that, _It’s like she has a radar or something_ she always said, it annoyed her, so Melody liked it.

“Here.” Rose said and gave her one of the cups.

She sat beside Melody and stayed silent.

Melody sniffed and cleaned her face. She drank the tea slowly, liking the warmth.

“Mum doesn’t understand.” She finally said. “I’m already big enough, and I’m not saying I’m going to travel all the time, just a week here and there. At least until I become a famous archeologist, I could call myself a cool name like River Song or something like that, and then I can travel with you full time.”

Melody didn’t see Rose react to her invented name. Rose didn’t interrupt, she just listened to Melody rant about how her mum was annoying and how her dad was just scared.

“And they, they, they–” Melody interrupted herself.

She had been talking for so long her anger had gone now and she was just tired. Her mug now lay empty beside her, the pillows thrown all over the place. She gave a really, really, _really_ long sigh and looked at Rose. She was now trying to hide a smile while playing with her earring.

“They’re probably just worried.” Melody finished.

The night sky could be seen from the window of the tree house, and she thought she saw a shooting star.

“They love you, Melody. They’ve seen what’s out there, of course they’re scared. Even the Doctor and me, we get scared.”

Melody frowned, not really believing her. “Really?”

“Really.”

Melody looked at her more, she wasn’t convinced, but whatever. She sighed.

“I’m going to apologize.”

“Good girl.” Rose said and gave her a long hug, her comforting smell of roses and time relaxing her.

Rose went away and Melody was left there, looking at the stars.

One day.

  
  
  
  


**Clara Oswald**

For Clara Oswald, Rose was part of the Doctor. The Sun to the Doctor’s planetary system. They were a unit, completely in sync with each other. Always together, always in each other’s orbit, something that only came with years of being together. There was harmony to their movements, to their conversations, to their rhythm.

In the laws of the universe, the Doctor and Rose must stay together no matter what.

Which is why Clara felt like everything had come to an end after the Doctor regenerated.

It was rough, and painful, and it felt like someone close to her had died. Clara couldn’t figure out how to react to everything. The Doctor had changed so much, he no longer resembled the boyish charismatic persona she had known, his appearance was much older now, and his personality was rougher and prickly. She felt so alone, abandoned by her best friend. 

But for the first time, Rose wasn’t the one comforting everyone else, she was the one grieving by the Doctor’s bedside, holding his hand and whispering silent reassurances to the Doctor, and maybe to herself, too. Seeing Rose so unlike herself, Clara knew what she had to do. She went to the kitchen, ignoring Jenny’s protests of how that was her job, and made tea. Whenever someone was having a rough time, Rose was always there with a cup of tea. Today, it was her turn to do the same for her. She prepared a tray with biscuits and took it back to the bedroom. Rose hadn’t moved an inch, still looking at the Doctor intensely. She put the tray down, picked up an already prepared cup, and touched Rose’s arm. She turned to her startled, like she hadn’t heard Clara entering the room and preparing the tea even when she was being purposely noisy; maybe she hadn’t.

“Here.” Clara handed her the cup, and turned back to prepare the second cup, this one she left on the nightstand. 

Rose looked at her tea and then at the lonely cup on the nightstand. Clara prepared her own cup and sat down beside her. She had to remind herself that this was harsher on Rose than on herself.

They sat like that for a moment until Rose broke the silence.

“I always hate this part.” she whispered finally. “I know he’s the Doctor, the same man, and I’ll love him no matter what, but the beginning is always the hardest part.”

“How many times have you… ?” Clara trailed off.

“This is the third time.” She smiled a little at that. “The first time was the worst. I didn’t know what had happened, didn’t know anything about regeneration, and then he went into a healing coma while there was an alien invasion in London. Again.” She looked from her tea to the Doctor, smiling fondly. “The second time was better. He didn’t pass out on me this time at least, we even spent a whole night testing his new taste buds so I didn’t have to ask what he liked, what he didn’t like, and after saving the world we had time for him to get used to his new body. He liked his tea with so much sugar there was barely any tea left.” Rose huffed a small laugh at that, “I know regenerations can be hard, he told me once he forgot completely who he was for a whole day and spent weeks trying to get his memories back. At least now he seems to have some idea of who he is.”

Rose’s eyes were red but the tears hadn’t left her eyes yet. Clara stared at her silently.

“I just hate asking him how he likes his tea, like he’s a total stranger. I hate that I don’t know what food he likes now or what he doesn’t like.” Finally the tears started to gather and she started to cry. A single tear fell in her untouched cup of tea. “I hate that I don’t know how he will react to everything. To me.”

Clara stared at her for a moment. Rose Tyler, insecure about her relationship with the Doctor? It seemed uncanny.

“If I know something about the laws of the universe is that the Doctor loves Rose Tyler, no matter what.” Clara said in a matter of fact voice.

Rose laughed, and the mood in the room lightened.

“Thank you, Clara.”

“You’re welcome.”

  
  
  
  


**Nardole**

Nardole had a task: Keep the Doctor and Rose safe.

He had come to work with River Song by pure luck. Nobody knew her real name or where she actually came from, but her reputation preceded her, a mysterious archeologist from Earth with a stolen Time Vortex.

“I’ve been working for you for almost a year now, I should at least know your name.” Nardole had said once.

They were on a cargo ship that was travelling through the Orion Galaxy. The Captain had given them a double cabin after River had threatened him with some information leakage about the actual shipment, that and an actual gun to his head. That’s where they were, he was sitting on one of the beds going through his logs of their last job, while River packed.

“No, you don’t. I like River Song, don’t you like River Song?” The strange woman said. 

She tied her ginger hair in a pony tail and started arranging her tools inside a transdimensional bag that he was sure she had stolen. She didn’t have that many possessions, preferring to travel light with only a communication device, a computer and an honest to God blue paper journal.

“I was thinking about dying my hair, maybe getting a perm. Is it too middle-life crisis?” River said airly.

“A little bit, yeah.” Nardole answered.

River shrugged and finished packing all of her stuff.

“My next assignment is in the Library and…” She went quiet all of the sudden, which was rare for her.

River looked at him seriously, and then sat down at the other bed.

“Nardole. Have I ever told you about the Doctor and Rose?”

“No, I don’t think so. I would remember, you know.”

She sighed, clearly exasperated with him but said nothing. She looked at the floor and then at her hands, she was clearly thinking on where to start whatever she was going to tell him. It took her a couple of minutes but then she started in a soft voice, so unlike her.

“They’re my godparents.” She said. “When I was a baby I was almost stolen by a cult with delusions of grandeur. They saved me.”

The aura in the room had got heavier, even Nardole had noticed that. He didn’t know what to say to any of what he was hearing, so he kept quiet and listened.

“They were always there for me when I was growing up, and after I finished university I started travelling with them. And on my 28th birthday, I lost my parents. They were taken by Weeping Angels. The Doctor and Rose refused to take me with them, so I stole a Time Vortex and ran. I did see my parents again, and I visit from time to time.”

Nardole was a little bit uncomfortable with the information, he wasn’t sure which was the adequate reaction to all of this.

“Why are you telling me all of this?”

“Because.” River said and then took a huge breath, “Everything changed after I ran away, I did some bad stuff and ended up in Stormcage. That’s when I started meeting the Doctor and Rose out of order, and this,” She took her blue journal that was never separated from her person, “is every single meeting we had. It’s almost 20 years of history. They have a similar one, but theirs is getting emptier.” She gripped the diary tightly, as if she was afraid it would disappear. “There’s only a few pages left in mine and, and,” She gulped, “And I think my next meeting with them will be my last.”

Nardole blinked, did she mean…?

“I’m going to die soon.” She said and then looked with serious eyes at him, “Your new orders are to recover my diary after my death and keep the Doctor and Rose safe, you hear me?”

She waited in silence until he nodded.

“Good.” She nodded back.

And that’s how his new mission started.

The Doctor and Rose had been guarding the Vault for almost a thousand years, Nardole right by their side doing his duty.

The Doctor had started giving classes at the university as a way to cope with the dullness of staying in one place for so long. Rose enrolled in the university once every few years, enough time for everyone to forget she had studied there before, her inability to age and the fact that she looked nineteen caused her trouble from time to time but she learned to deal with it. Nardole was doing his best keeping an eye on them, learning their personalities and behaviours, all in the name of taking care of them. He spent the mornings helping the Doctor in his classes and the afternoons with Rose having tea, during the nights he would go to do his routine maintenance of the Vault, and at dawn he would take a walk until his favourite pastry shop opened to have tea and a scone. It was a good life, a tranquil life.

There were minor problems here and there, but nothing they couldn’t solve. The Doctor had looked incredibly upset when Rose told him he couldn’t put a picture of her on his desk. ‘They’re going to think I’m your daughter or something and if you tell them the truth it could bring you unwanted attention’ Rose had said, and the Doctor had complied ‘You see me everyday, anyway’ said as to cheer him up. He only hugged her.

It was the afternoon, but Nardole had been doing some crochet and he had lost track of time so he was running late for tea with Rose. When he arrived at the Doctor’s office he found the tea already prepared on a side table and Rose fast asleep on the desk with a pile of books in front of her. She had enrolled once again, this time choosing physics, her first science career, since she tended to prefer Humanities and Arts.

“Nardole.” He heard the Doctor’s voice call out from behind him.

The Doctor was exiting the TARDIS with a pink blanket in his hands, he went to Rose’s side and covered her with the blanket.

“I think the tea already went cold.” He said.

“We can always make more.”

The Doctor nodded but didn’t make any move to do so, so Nardole went to the galley inside the ship and prepared the tea. He wasn’t used to doing it, since Rose always insisted on making it, but he thought he had seen her do it enough times to make it exactly like her. He made the tea and went back into the office. 

The Doctor was sitting on a chair looking at Rose with a heavy stare.

Nardole served the tea and gave him a cup. The Doctor thanked him and took a sip. He frowned, clearly not liking the tea by virtue of being Not-Rose’s, but he drank it and didn’t complain.

They drank the tea in silence until Nardole broke it.

“You’re thinking.” He said.

The Doctor looked at Nardole annoyed but after a couple of minutes he sighed and left the cup on the desk.

“I’m putting Rose through something she doesn’t deserve.” The Doctor said.

Nardole looked at him as if telling him to continue.

“She doesn’t deserve to be punished like this.”

Nardole frowned, okay, that didn’t make sense.

“I don’t think she feels like she’s being punished.” He said.

The Doctor scoffed at him.

“I promised her a life of adventure and excitement. This is not that.”

“If she wanted to leave she would have already.” Nardole said, in a matter-of-fact tone.

The Doctor looked sharply at him, clearly angry with his comment. You could see it in the eyebrows, they were attack eyebrows.

“Jenny’s just one call away. It’s not like she doesn’t know how to fly the TARDIS, and the TARDIS does prefer her. And U.N.I.T. is just around the corner if she wanted to go adventuring.” Nardole continued.

He could see that the Doctor hadn’t thought about any of that in the way his eyes shifted nervously between the TARDIS and Rose. Nardole saw the Doctor tensing, a fight or flight response, of what, Nardole didn’t understand.

“But you see,” Nardole said, distracting the Doctor away from whatever idea his mind had gone to, “after all my studying I have come to the conclusion: Rose Tyler would never abandon the Doctor.”

The Doctor seemed surprised by what Nardole had said, which was stupid if you asked him. Guess the Doctor wasn’t as observant and clever as him.

Rose mumbled a little under her breath and shifted, they both turned to look at her waking up clearly disoriented by everything.

“Wha’?” She looked around until her eyes finally found the Doctor. She frowned. “I am never taking physics again.”

The Doctor laughed. Rose was the only person that made him smile and laugh like he didn’t have a care in the world.

She raised her arms, beckoning the Doctor to her. He went like a moth to the light. He picked her up and took her inside the TARDIS, not even saying a goodnight to Nardole. He didn’t mind, this was the perfect excuse to order some Thai food.

  
  
  
  


**Bill Potts**

Bill Potts met them separately at first.

Everybody knew who the Doctor was. The strange professor that seemed to be in the faculty since the beginning of time that taught everything and anything, like he didn’t actually have a specific subject. Outside the classroom he always looked so serious, he barely talked to anyone, and he was so painfully awkward he could make any conversation with him feel uncomfortable; but as soon as the lecture started his eyes would gleam and he could talk for ages and ages, it was like seeing the tin man come to life. Every time she could she would sneak into his class and listen. She loved those lectures. 

After he started tutoring her she discovered more glimpses of the man he was in the real world. His office didn’t give too much of his personality away, but his weirdly young fashion style and the wedding band on his finger gave at least the illusion that he was probably a normal bloke outside the University. He also had a phone, which probably wasn’t that big of a deal but when you got to know him it seemed like it was the biggest deal in the world. Sometimes she caught him looking at his phone with a tiny smile on his face just before she entered his office, or talking with a soft voice that didn’t fit her image of the Doctor.

He also had a guitar and a collection of vinyls, giving him the vibe of the weird rocker uncle that every family had. Apart from that, he barely had any mementos in his office. But on his desk were two lonely pictures, one was a black and white picture of a girl with black short hair and the other a colour picture of a blonde girl in a ponytail. When she asked about them he answered shortly pointing to each picture with “My granddaughter and daughter.”

“Oh, so she’s her mother?” She said while grabbing the picture of the blonde girl.

“No, I don’t have pictures of her parents.” He said curtly, taking the frame off her hands and placing it back on his desk.

“Don’t you have other pictures of your other family? Your wife?” She asked curiously.

“Not really.” He said dismissively, and so the personal conversation ended and they continued their tutoring session.

As time passed, Bill’s tutoring sessions became the best part of her day. Listening to the Doctor lecturing on whatever topic he had in mind that day was always interesting. She also thought that they had grown a little bit closer, she might’ve dared to say they were becoming friends. It was weeks later, when they were in the middle of a lesson when she asked why he had chosen her to give these sessions.

“I already told you. You have potential.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t seem enough explanation. Why me?” The Doctor looked at her intensely and sighed.

“You’re curious. That’s a good quality to have.” He answered in a quick manner. He stood up from his desk and walked to one of the many bookshelves in his office.

He took one book, skimmed through it and put it back. He did the same with three other books until he found the one he was looking for and returned to his desk.

“The world needs more people like you. My wife is the same.” This was the first time he shared something about his wife with her (or really, something about his personal life, probably with anyone), so Bill wondered.

“Is she…” She trailed off, she was sure the Doctor understood what she was referring to. He looked sharply at her.

“She’s alive.”

“Oh.” Bill made a sigh of relief and gave him a nervous smile, then she thought. “Then why don’t you have pictures of her? Are you divorced?”

“I’m not divorced!” He said like she had just insulted him. “I see her everyday, I don’t see the point.”

“But it’s nice, right? To have pictures?”

He stayed silent for a moment and moved his hand to his pocket unconsciously, probably to reach his phone, but stopped himself. His phone probably had pictures of her, so why not display her in a frame?

“Stop distracting me, where were we?” 

And so the lesson continued.

The next time she heard anything about the Doctor’s personal life was nearing the end of the term. She asked about his plans for the Holidays, if he was going to spend it with his family. 

“My daughter is coming to town, so we’re having dinner together.” he was pensive for a moment. “Hopefully this time the kitchen will go unscratched.”

“That’s nice.” Bill beamed at him “Is it okay if I give you your Christmas present early, then?”

“Present?”

“Great! See you then.” She didn’t let him get a word in, she left as quickly as she could.

A few days later, she gave him a carpet that she thought combined with his office. He thanked her and awkwardly reached under his desk and took out a box in a yellow wrapper. 

“Here.” He said, extending the box to her.

“Really?” She said with a smile on her face, she hadn’t expected anything from him. She didn’t wait for his answer, she ripped the paper and opened the box. Inside was an incredibly soft rainbow sweater “Oh my God, I love it!”

“My wife picked it up.” He explained, his posture stiff. “She’s better at people than me.”

“Makes sense then,” Bill said, still distracted by the lovely sweater in her hands.

“What?”

“Why you married her.” She answered simply.

“Yeah.” He said softly. 

She missed the small smile that appeared on his face.

The term went by rather quickly for Bill. But so did her holidays. Don’t get her wrong, she was loving the tutoring sessions and her grades were surprisingly good, she just wished vacations were longer.

Still, Bill arrived with a spring on her step to the Doctor’s office.

“Happy new term!” She exclaimed as she let herself in.

The Doctor was on the phone talking with someone.

“With you in a moment.” He interrupted himself on the phone to tell her and left the room.

She swept her gaze through his office until it landed on the rug she had given. It was now under the blue box.

“You said you needed a crane to lift your box.” She called out.

“Sorry, what did you say?” The Doctor asked.

“Nothing.” She waved him off.

He must have asked for help to lift the box. Bill could still hear bits of the conversation going on.

“Chips are fine. Oh, the one with the black pearls that you eat? Why not. No, you choose the movie. Alright. Bye.” The Doctor gave a breathless chuckle. “Love you, too.”

The last phrase made Bill whip her head quickly to look at the Doctor, and she managed to catch the last remains of a smile. She smiled, too.

“Was that your wife?” She asked teasingly.

“Yes.” He had now returned to his default grumpy face. “Why are you so curious about her?”

“I dunno. I guess I want to know what type of person you would marry.”

Bill didn’t want to tell him that she mostly imagined just a woman version of the Doctor, weird and socially awkward. She just didn’t know how a person like the Doctor could be married. Was he actually different with his wife than with everyone else? Or was his wife just too similar to him? Curiosity killed the cat, indeed.

Bill met Rose in the canteen. She looked like any other normal student, with a backpack full of books and a laptop, always dressed in pink or yellow and denim. She didn’t stand out or anything, but the first time she had seen her, she had smiled at her this amazingly kind smile and asked her name. Bill stuttered her name a little, she could be honest to herself and admit that she had had a minor crush on her at the beginning. 

But Rose Tyler was a mystery, a walking contradiction; even when she seemed to be popular and people liked her she didn’t have that many friends, she was young but sometimes she acted like a grandma, she didn’t party and didn’t get plastered with the rest of the students, she talked but she never said anything about herself, people flirted with her and, while she wasn’t rude about it, she always made it clear she wasn’t interested. It was a couple of weeks after meeting her that Bill finally noticed a ring on her finger, like a wedding band, but she was too young to be married so it was probably a promise ring, so her crush ended quite quickly. How conservative, a promise ring in the year of our Lord 2017, but she thought it was sweet and after that it was really easy to make small talk to her.

Bill didn’t see them together until after she started to be tutored by the Doctor.

The first time she saw them together she was on her way to his office. They were talking outside the building in a secluded place, she wouldn’t have even noticed them but Bill recognized Rose’s laugh, it was a nice, melodical laugh (so her crush wasn’t as fast gone as she had thought, so what). She turned around to find them really close to each other, the Doctor had one hand on her arm and she was smiling from ear to ear. What surprised her the most was the Doctor’s face, she had never seen him look so caring, so– if she was being honest with herself– smitten. And then he laughed! A small chuckle and a smirk graced his features, like it was normal for him, like it was something he did!

After she recovered from the shock she noticed that Rose was gone and the Doctor was looking at her leaving with a fond smile on his face. It was creepy if you asked her, but maybe she was misinterpreting the whole thing, maybe they were related or something. Rose could totally be his grand niece, and she could be just making assumptions from what she had seen. Yeah, that could be it. So she let it slide off her mind and went to her tutoring session.

The second time she saw them together she was on the other side of town, just walking and chilling in a park. She almost didn’t see them, but as she was admiring her surroundings she saw the Doctor sitting on a bench with a book in his hands. She was going to call out to him when she noticed he wasn’t alone, Rose was there too. She was laying on the bench, with her head in the Doctor’s lap, and she looked like she was sleeping. The Doctor was reading out loud, combing her hair with his fingers in such an un-Doctor way. It looked like such an intimate moment so she left without saying anything, not planning on telling him she had seen him. 

The third time, she was being chased by the ghost of Heather. She didn’t have time to think about the fact they were both in his office after hours. She didn’t have time to pay attention to their conversations while she was running for her life. She really wasn’t thinking about anything else when she discovered that the blue box was actually a space and time machine. And she really wasn’t thinking about anything other than planets and aliens and other galaxies.

She was barely aware of returning to the Doctor’s office, sitting down and Rose disappearing inside the blue box again. When she finally sorted out all the mess inside her head, she was startled by Rose’s return with a tray of tea, leaving it on the desk Rose served three cups while the Doctor watched her with an amused smile on his face. There was familiarity in the way they orbited around each other, in how close they stood together. Rose prepared one cup with lemon and handed it to the Doctor, she handed her a clear cup so Bill prepared hers with honey and lemon. 

“Rose believes that anything can be solved with a cup of tea.” The Doctor explained with a shrug. 

“Oh, I don’t know about that, but a good cuppa has saved the world once or twice in the past.” Rose smiled and raised her hand to caress the Doctor’s cheek. He gave her a small smirk and took her hand in his, the hand with her ring. A rose gold ring that looked identical to the one the Doctor was wearing.

“Wait, you are his wife!?” Bill almost screamed the question. She looked at the two of them, he had said he came from another planet, how old were they really? If he was an alien, was she an alien too?

How could this weird, bizarre man have a wife (a gorgeous, kind, beautiful wife like Rose) and she couldn’t even get a date?!

“You’ve just discovered there’s life on other planets and you’re surprised about that?” The Doctor said in an annoyed tone.

“Well, yeah, a little bit.”

Rose giggled at that and the Doctor frowned at her. 

“Yeah. I am.” Rose said a little bit proudly, the Doctor made a face at her but his eyes were still warm.

They matched, in a way, like they balanced each other. The Doctor was always in dark clothing while Rose was always dressed in bright colours; while the Doctor barely talked to people, Rose was always surrounded by them.

“How old are you?” She had to ask, Rose barely looked 20.

“Let’s not go into ages yet, okay?” Rose said nervously.

“We’ve been married for longer than you’ve been alive, Bill.”

So Rose was old, proper old, not ‘is because I’ve got good genes’ old, but something more like ‘I’m a vampire, I don’t age’ old.

“So, are you like an alien too?”

“I’m human” Rose said

“Originally.” The Doctor continued, Rose made a _shut up_ face at him.

“Originally?”

“Let’s leave that until a much, _much_ later conversation, okay?”

“Are you immortal?”

“No”

Silence reigned in the office.

“You could do so much better.” Bill said looking directly at Rose.

Rose burst out laughing.

“I keep telling her that.” The Doctor said good-naturedly, but Bill could see his hand tightening on hers.

Bill gave her cup a sip as she fell silent, the atmosphere a little bit lighter now.

“I saw it all for a moment. Everything out there. She was going to let me fly with her. She was inviting me. I was too scared.” She whispered to herself, she turned to the Doctor. “Will I ever see her again?”

“I don’t see how.” The Doctor stood up and approached her “Now, I’m sorry but I need to do this.” He lifted his hands to her face.

“No! You’re gonna wipe out my memory, aren’t you?” She saw out of the corner of her eye Rose standing and grabbing the Doctor.

“I have no choice, I’m here for a reason.” He tried to explain, but Rose came in between them and screamed to get his attention.

“Doctor!” Rose pushed at his chest, standing as a barrier between Bill and him. “I’m not gonna let you do this!”

“Rose.” He sighed tiredly, like it was a recurrent fight they had. It probably was.

“No! She saw everything and she’s not freaking out, she’s not a bad person. Explain it to her, she’ll understand.”

“You see too much good in people.” He said.

“And you don’t see enough.” She said seriously but a small smile started to appear on her face, as if she knew she had won their argument.

Rose turned to her and said. “Go home, Bill. I’ll see you soon, yeah.” She smiled and winked at her.

Bill left and a few minutes later the TARDIS appeared with Rose smiling ear to ear with the Doctor at her side and whisked her into another adventure. The universe at her fingertips.

  
  
  
  


**Yasmin Khan**

They met the Doctor first, that weird incredible alien woman surrounded by mystery and trouble, so Yaz thought she could no longer be surprised by anything. She thought wrong. 

Enter Rose Tyler, the strange girl that had come running from the blue police box into the Doctor’s arms talking a mile per minute. 

“She threw me out of the console room! I spent days trying to get back, and when I finally got to the controls we were trapped in a loop and I couldn’t land her!” The young girl had said into the Doctor’s neck, while she squeezed the life out of her.

“It’s okay, luv. I understand.” The Doctor said as she hugged the girl back with the same desperation of the girl.

The girl separated enough from the Doctor to look at her face.

“You fell and I didn’t know what happened to you!” The girl screamed, something flickered in her face. “You’re a woman.” She said surprised.

“Yes!” The Doctor said happily, and then a little bit uncertain. “Is it going to be a problem?”

“Of course not, you daft alien.” The girl kissed the Doctor and the Doctor kissed her back with a small laugh.

Yaz felt a pang in her chest. She hadn’t noticed, but she guessed it felt right, she had a crush on the Doctor, and the Doctor was in a relationship. She had something about that after the funeral, about having a wife but Yaz hadn’t been paying that much attention, probably.

They got to know Rose better during the whole Rosa Parks incident. She had been outright murderous when the man walking with his wife had punched Ryan, and if Rosa hadn’t intervined Yaz was sure Rose would have punched the man even harder. The Doctor had to keep Rose beside her at all times, since she was the one that reacted the most outraged of the lot and it could’ve caused problems. After that, Ryan and Rose got along excellently. At the end, they were all glad when they left the time and went back to Sheffield.

“I swear to god, if I hear one more racist, classist comment I’m gonna kill someone!” Rose had screamed as they landed the TARDIS.

Rose stormed out of the ship, the Doctor looking at her go with a bright smile, as if Rose hadn’t literally threatened to commit murder.

“You should’ve seen when she got into a fight with a guy that said something about her being a chav.” The Doctor said in a proud voice.

It was weird returning to normal, the monotony of life. She had just experienced the most exciting few days of her life and it had only been half an hour since she had left. But of course, it was never a dull moment with the Doctor, and the mutant spider problem had been just the thing to push her to her decision, to travel with the Doctor and see what the universe had to offer.

It had been a few weeks already since they started to travel in the TARDIS. That’s when Yaz asked about seeing her grandma’s past. The Doctor had been squeamish about the request, but Rose had looked at her with such intense eyes and had convinced the Doctor to take her. Yaz was surprised but grateful, but Rose avoided her after that.

Yaz figured the why after everything had happened.

They were now in flight, returning to Sheffield, the hum of the spaceship soothing. Graham and Ryan had gone to the media room while the Doctor piloted the TARDIS, Yaz was sitting on the floor reclined on one of the yellow columns. She heard steps approaching and when she turned around she found Rose there with two cuppas and a kind smile. Yaz grabbed one of the mugs and thanked her, and Rose sat beside her.

“How are you?” Rose asked.

“Okay, I guess.”

“Really?”

Yaz nodded but didn’t say anything else.

“I’m sorry you had to live through that.”

Yaz sipped the tea, it was good, she liked it. 

Yaz frowned.

“But, you convinced the Doctor.” Yaz said, a little confused.

Rose nodded. “I once asked something similar from the Doctor, a long time ago. And it didn’t go as thought it would.” Rose sighed, her eyes sad and distant, lost in a memory. “But it was important for me to live that. It was important for you, too.”

Yaz was left aghast, in that moment Rose sounded so much older, so much more mature than what she had thought of her. This girl that looked 19 suddenly felt a hundred years old. Rose was human, she used to have a family, she started to travel with the Doctor on a whim, just like them; and now she only had the Doctor. Yaz tightened her grip on her mug.

“I think I want to see my family.” Yaz said in a small voice.

Rose smiled at her again, that kind smile of hers. “We’re almost there.”

And with that she stood up and left the console room.

  
  
  
  


**Graham O’Brien**

_She reminds me of Grace_ , that’s what Graham O’Brien thought of Rose.

She was kind and brave and was always helping people in need. She had a sunny disposition and a down to earth attitude that balanced the Doctor perfectly. She got along amazingly with Ryan, apparently their personalities and backgrounds were too similar and she liked having someone around that understood that. 

He didn’t understand how a girl that looked so young could feel so old. He asked the Doctor once, they were in the console room during one of his fits of insomnia, he was sitting on the floor, the Doctor at his side doing something with some kind of machinery. He used to sleep so well at night, he got insomnia right after Grace, right after returning to sleeping alone with no warmth at his side.

“Hey Doc, just how old are you?”

“Well, a little over 3000 years old, there was a tricky bit in the middle of my past life, but I don’t think that counts.” 

He frowned, a past life? Sometimes nothing that came out of the Doctor’s mouth made sense. 

“How long have you been married, then? Rose looks barely old enough.” Because that was also a concern of his.

“Oh, she doesn’t like me to talk about her age. I think it’s on account that she forgets it.” The Doctor frowned. 

“Is she alien?”

“Nah, completely human. Human- _ish_.”

Graham nodded, a little bit confused. 

“Grace would’ve liked her.” He said, absentmindedly. 

The Doctor nodded with a sad smile. 

“Yeah, she would’ve.” The Doctor turned to look at him without stopping her fiddling with the machine. “There are two types of people in this universe. People like Rose and Grace, who are like suns and give life to the planets around them, people who shine with their own light. And people like us, who are the planets that orbit around them.” 

Graham stared at her hard. People like them. 

“I wanted to be someone like her this time around, I think I’m doing a pretty good job.” She said absentmindedly.

He thought he understood, people like them were attracted to people like Grace. She had brought light into his life and now Grace wasn’t there any more. 

“What would you do if Rose wasn’t here?”

The change was immediate. The Doctor tensed and stopped fiddling with the thing she had in her hands, she was completely unmoving, it almost looked like she wasn’t breathing and her eyes were now lost somewhere he didn’t know. It was strange seeing the change from unending energy to this lack of everything, like something he wasn’t meant to see, something forbidden. The unknown face of the Doctor.

After what seemed like an hour but was only a couple of minutes, the Doc started breathing again and looked at him with sad eyes.

“I am so sorry, Graham.”

He nodded. 

“Yeah.”

They were silent a moment more before they heard steps approaching the console room and they turned to the sound. They saw Rose in her jimjams, a sleepy face and two cuppas. 

“Hey!” The Doctor said at once, standing up and going to her wife’s side, “What’re you doing up?”

Rose did a gesture pointing to her head.

“You were upset. What happened?” Rose asked.

“Nothing!” The Doctor said quickly to reassure her. 

Graham wasn’t that surprised at Rose knowing when the Doc was upset. They had some kind of mind thing that let them know when the other was okay.

“Really?” Rose asked, more calm now.

“Really, just me and my thoughts.”

“Is it–?” Rose began to say, a weird tone in her voice, her eyes wide and her thumb going to her mouth.

“No, no, don’t worry.”

Rose looked at her, assessing if whatever the Doctor was telling her was true and then nodded. 

“A’ight.”

Rose gave her a mug and a kiss on the cheek and then went to Graham’s side. 

“Here.” She gave him a cuppa and pointed to the column in the middle of the room. “She told me you were here.”

 _Who?_ , Graham wondered. Nevermind, the married couple always talked in cryptics. 

“Thank you.” He said, instead.

“Of course.”

Rose left and they were left alone with the tea. The Doctor was smiling after her like she was the whole reason she was still around, she probably was. He looked at his tea and sipped it, it was quite good. 

“I’m going to be honest with you Graham.” The Doc began in a soft voice. “I don’t know what I would do without Rose, I don’t know who I would be if I hadn’t know her, I’ll probably be a completely different person right now. But if I lost Rose, I know that she would want me to go on and she would always be in my memories. The only way to keep her alive would be to keep on living. So I’d live, just like she would want me to. For her.”

Graham felt his eyes prickle a bit and his nose felt stuffy. Probably the cold of the room. He sniffed and drank the tea, it really was good. 

  
  
  
  


**Ryan Sinclair**

Travelling across the universe and galaxies, Ryan Sinclair never thought he would have something that was so familiar like Rose Tyler. 

She was from a council Estate just like them, energetic and a firecracker. They talked a lot, about their fatherless childhoods and growing up poor and their bad decisions. They both hadn’t finished school and they both had done some stuff they weren’t proud of. She was so normal and yet she was the Doctor’s wife, it made him feel amazing, you could be so normal and yet extraordinary. She was exactly what he needed to ground himself after every adventure. 

They would go to the media room right after running for their lives (which had been the best day of his life, the media room was awesome) and talk while watching some mind numbing telly. Like they were normal people.

They didn’t travel with the Doctor and Rose all the time, so it wasn’t like he forgot about his real life, but having Rose helped him see the normality in their incredible travels. 

It was one of those nights where they were watching some EastEnders when he received a message from his Dad. His mobile had vibrated beside him and he had picked it up to check, he wasn’t going to answer because it was EastEnders time and he liked the show. He went still and quiet when he saw the name on the screen, and Rose noticed immediately. 

“You okay?” She asked.

He didn’t answer. 

What did he want now? Should he answer? He stared at the notification with unfocused eyes. He didn’t hear the sofa move and the door open and close. The phone felt so heavy in his hands. He didn’t like the feeling, he was travelling across time and space, things like this shouldn’t matter here. He fiddled with the phone, wondering if maybe he should just delete it without reading. 

He was taken out of his thoughts by the door opening again and Rose entering with two cuppas. She gave him a cup and paused the telly. 

“Here, drink.” It was an order, not a suggestion.

The action reminded him so much of his grandma that he sipped immediately. It was good, he nodded at her and she smiled. 

“You can ignore that, you know.” She said, pointing at the phone in his hands.

“Yeah, I know.”

He fiddled with the phone some more. Rose seemed to think what to say next and then took the cup she had given to him and left it on the side table.

“As long as you know that, then that’s okay. Ignore it, answer it. It doesn’t matter.” She said, “As long as you did right by yourself.”

He turned and looked at her, he nodded and gave a tired laugh. He looked at the phone in his hands one more time and then chugged it to the side. 

“How about we finish this chapter, I’ll decide after.” 

Rose smiled and nodded. 

“Great.” 

They watched one chapter and then another and another. They finished their tea and then went for biscuits and continued watching. Rose fell asleep after the fourth episode in a row. 

He grabbed his phone. He felt a little calmer and no longer had the need to answer it, so he deleted it without reading. His Dad would call if it was important.

The Doctor went in the room a moment after. 

“Oh, there she is!” The Doctor said as she came into the room, “Hey Ryan!”

She looked at the cups on the side table and then at Ryan. She frowned.

“Everything a’ight?” She asked.

He looked at the cups, at the phone and then at Rose. He smiled and then said to the Doctor. 

“Yeah, I’m alright.” He answered.

And he was. He really was. He had friends, he was doing something with his life, and he was spending time with the family that mattered. Yeah, everything was fine.

“Oh, then good.” The Doctor said with a smile. “I better take her to bed, she’s going to complain about a stiff neck if I don’t.”

The Doctor went and picked up Rose easily. She wasn’t that much taller than Rose, an inch or two, but apparently she was stronger than she seemed. Rose only mumbled but didn’t wake up. The Doctor smiled at her wife and then looked at Ryan.

“Good night, Ryan. Tomorrow we’ll do some R&R, maybe some spa planet or somethin’”

Ryan waved at her and she left. He looked at the phone and smiled. Some R&R sounded great.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, your comments and your kudos are always appreciated! They are my life force and they truly keep me writing.
> 
> I've been working on this fic ever since I started my rewatch of DW this year. I just wondered what would the companions think of Rose and how much things would have changed if she had stayed. I loved writing it and I had so much fun doing it.
> 
> You can find me on any social media, and don't hesitate to DM me.
> 
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